Lockdown’ practice set for school staff

David Brooke

Friday

May 4, 2007 at 12:01 AMMay 4, 2007 at 4:11 AM

In the coming weeks, teachers and other staff members at the middle and high schools will learn how to safeguard students and “lockdown” the schools in the event of an armed threat or other emergency. Under the direction of the Harwich Police Department and based on a procedure in place at the Dennis-Yarmouth school district, staff will learn how to protect students and give police time to arrive on the scene and take control of an emergency situation.

In the coming weeks, teachers and other staff members at the middle and high schools will learn how to safeguard students and “lockdown” the schools in the event of an armed threat or other emergency. Under the direction of the Harwich Police Department and based on a procedure in place at the Dennis-Yarmouth school district, staff will learn how to protect students and give police time to arrive on the scene and take control of an emergency situation. Staff instruction at the middle school is set for May 11 and at the high school on May 21.“This is a great program that Dennis-Yarmouth public schools have guided us through,” said high school principal Kevin Turner. “Police will give an outline, then do a walkthrough with staff. Before a run-through with students (which is not set yet) there will be parent meetings,” Turner added.The program has two parts to meet different levels of threat. The first is called the “stay in place” or “stay put” phase. If an unidentified person enters the school, a stay in place means students are kept in the classroom until the warning is lifted. The second phase is called “lockdown” and will only be initiated if there is a reasonable belief of armed violence or the potential thereof. The lockdown’s intent is to buy time by staying quiet, shutting off lights and taking cover from a potential attacker. Fooling an attacker into avoiding a seemingly empty room could save lives, and gives the police time to arrive at the school, Harwich Police Lt. Jonathan Mitchell said. In the event of a serious incident, “there is no time to call a SWAT team, and now all Cape officers get SWAT team-style training to deal with a shooter,” Mitchell said.